A Mother's Nightmare
by lauraamyx
Summary: Grace is rushed into the ED following an accident at school; how will Connie cope?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello... I've had this idea in my head for quite a while now, and have finally gotten round to writing it. I hope you enjoy, I'm unsure how many chapters this will be, I guess we'll see. Please, if you do have any criticism send it my way, I'd love to know how I can improve :)**

Dixie and Iain reached their fourth call out of the day; a young girl had been in an incident at the local 'Holby Primary.' Upon approaching the school, they were greeted with an anxious woman, obviously worried about the little girl, "this way" she ushered, running towards the scene with the two paramedics behind.  
"Can you tell me her name?" They asked, reaching the group of teachers surrounding the girl.  
"Grace. Grace Beauchamp." Dixie and Iain shared glances with each other, the same realisation entering their minds. The teacher continued to relay the story of how Grace came to be in this position - sprawled out on the floor, drifting in and out of consciousness after falling off the wall, which may they add they specifically tell the children _not_ to stand on.

"Okay, Grace darling I'm Dixie I'm a paramedic I'm here to help you, try not to move please love" She crouched down and supported the crying girls neck as Iain ran back to the ambulance to grab a spinal board and neck collar. "And have you contacted the mother at all?" She questioned, trying to find out as much about the situation at hand as possible.

"We have tried ringing multiple times, but they all keep going to voicemail. I'll continue trying" _damn,_ she thought. She's still probably trying to stabilise and attend to the last patient they had brought into the ever busy Emergency Department. "Leave it to us, we can reach her" She replied, before attaching an oxygen mask and giving little grace something to help dull the pain.

Back at the Emergency Department of Holby, the 'red phone of doom' - because frankly there was never any good news come through on it - rang. Nurse Freeman answered, as some others looked on, expecting news of a major RTC coming in from the control. Instead, she heard Dixie's voice as she explained to her what had happened, asking her to break the news to Connie.  
"What was that about?" Ethan asked, the shock at the news evident on Rita's face.  
"Nothing I er.. I need to speak to Connie." She said, rushing off towards the direction of resus, leaving the rest of the staff rather confused.

Rita burst through the doors of the resus room where Connie was busy assessing a recent admission to the Emergency Department. "Connie - I need a work" she spoke, addressing the consultant.

"Not now Rita, can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"  
"Connie. Now, it's important." Rita demanded exasperated, knowing that she had to get her out of that room before her daughter was wheeled in. Sensing the importance of the situation, she took off her gloves and followed Rita out of the room, as Dylan took over the assessment. They headed to Connie's office, the only place that they would get any peace and quiet. Rita explained the situation, well as much as she knew anyway, to Connie, forcing herself to stop her eyes going misty with tears as she watched the consultants face crumple with shock, a hand covering her mouth as she processed the information the senior nurse was telling her.

In that moment they heard the shutting of ambulance doors and Iain's voice as he relayed the vitals to the nurses and doctors present and ready to help the young girl crying for her mother. Connie almost ran out of her office, heading towards her daughter as she was wheeled in on the stretcher when she was interrupted by Dixie coming up towards her.

"Connie I'm sorry, we tried contacting you but it went straight to voicemail" She said, looking up at the consultant who was staring elsewhere, watching her daughter get rushed into resus.

"How-how is she?" Connie asked the paramedic, not completely sure she wanted to know the answer.

Dixie stalled, not wanting to reveal the information, yet knowing that sugarcoating would not help this situation. "She's in and out of consciousness, confused and dizzy.." Connie continued staring off, not completely taking what she was being told. "She's been asking for you" - at this, Connie clicked out of her daze and glanced at Dixie before running into the resus rooms. She could hardly see Grace lying on the bed for all the nurses and doctors surrounding her. Medical terms and words were being thrown around but in that moment Connie couldn't work out a thing they were saying, they were all being merged into one long noise. Charlie stopped her before she could walk any further towards the bed, stethoscope in hand.

"Connie. You can't do this, you know that" He spoke, voiced laced with concern yet also stern. The doctor went to protest but Charlie continued, "you have to trust your staff. We have some of the best doctors, and they are all doing everything they can. What Grace needs most right now is her mum. So go, be with her, but don't tell the doctors what to do, your only job right now is as the parent." Charlie made sense, deep down Connie knew she was in no fit state to work, so she followed Charlie's commands and didn't attempt to control what the doctors and nurses were doing for once.

Now she understood what it was like to be in the shoes of the hundreds of parents they see daily in the hospital. Overwhelmed with anxiety at the fate of her child. Sitting there, wanting nothing more than to help her baby girl, to swap positions, yet helpless. Just watching at doctors and nurses bustled around her daughter, desperately wanting to tell them to stop, tell them that Grace _hated_ crowds, but knowing they were just doing their best to help her poor innocent girl.

So she stood, holding her daughter's hand, whispering reassurances her daughter. She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince - Grace or herself..


	2. Chapter 2

**Thankyou all for the lovely reviews on the last chapter, here's the next part. It's not that long, but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. Also, I'm not sure whether to end it here or continue it? I'm not really sure how to continue it/what direction to take it in..**

An MRI scan proved that little Gracie really had done a lot of damage to her brain, resulting in the need for emergency surgery to reduce the swelling. They ensured the best man for the job, Guy Self, carried out the procedure, reassuring Connie slightly as she knew he could work wonders and had been presented with similar cases an uncountable number of times. Yet still, with this knowledge, Connie was petrified - and who could blame her. Left in an empty resus with just the teacher that had accompanied the paramedics in the ambulance, the consultant couldn't stop the sudden burst of rage she felt inside her.

"Why did this happen?" She yelled, startling the young teacher, who like Connie was standing there not knowing what to do with herself.

"Well-well we did tell them not to play on the wall and -" Outraged at this, Connie interrupted her attempt at justifying the situation - "They're seven year olds! Of course they're going to be adventurous! It's your job to be looking out for them, making sure that things like this don't happen" She continued shouting, ranting to the teacher. Deep down she knew it wasn't their fault, it was an accident, but she also needed someone, anyone to blame for this nasty injury and it just so happened that the teacher was there.

At the sounds of the raised voice in the resus room, Rita and Lofty entered, catching Connie in mid rage. Rita headed straight for Connie, who was still using the teacher as a scapegoat.

"Okay Connie you need to stop, this isn't making the situation any better" Rita said strongly, holding onto her arms in an attempt to pull her away from the room. Connie tried to fight back, determined to continue this one-sided argument.

"No Rita I need answers!" She said, her voice cracking slightly.

"Okay, okay come on now let's go find somewhere quieter" Rita's voice softened, calming Connie down and causing her to comply with Rita's orders. They walked out of the resus doors, into the bustling ED department and headed once again toward Connie's office. On any normal day, Connie would be embarrassed at her moment of anger, but right now all she could focus on was Grace, and so instead of giving an icy glare to those glancing at her, she kept her head down and avoided any eye contact.

Upon reaching her office and sitting down on the sofa, all the anger she had previously felt evaporated. She let out all the pent up emotions she felt in the form of tears, silently sobbing into her hands. She no longer had to put on a brave face for her daughter, she just broke down, not caring that Rita was standing there in the room besides her. The nurse sat down and put her arm around the doctor, unsure of how else she could bring comfort. Surprisingly to them both, instead of pulling away, Connie collapsed into the embrace, appreciating the comfort it brought.

And so, Rita sat there until Connie had calmed herself down, making sure the consultant knew that she wasn't alone. They sat, talking and drinking tea until a knock sounded on the door and Charlie entered. "Just to let you know Grace is out of surgery now, they're bringing her back down here to a secluded room shortly, where they can monitor her" he said, before exiting again, leaving just Rita and Connie once again.

They both stood up, "um, thankyou.. for that and everything. I really appreciate it" Connie spoke, giving a small smile before following Charlie and heading to the private rooms to wait for her daughter.

After what seemed like an age, the doors opened and in wheeled her daughter alongside a doctor and some nurses who set about hooking up the machines and drips to an unconscious Grace. Connie instantly jumped to her feet.

"Now, the operation was an great success - it couldn't have gone any better. But, she's had a strong anaesthetic which will leave her unconscious for a while she should come round in a few hours. Due to the extent of her injuries, we'll be keeping her in for a while to monitor and run a few tests.." The doctor reeled off. Usually, Connie would interrupt and tell them that she was in fact a doctor herself and already knew the protocol. But, for once she liked the fact that she was first and foremost a mother rather than a doctor.

After the doctors and nurses left, she was once again lapsed in silence. This time however, it wasn't suffocating, it didn't leave her with a sense of increasing panic as the hours wore on. Instead she was left with a strange sense of calmness. Here, she had her daughter next to her, albeit not her vibrant energetic self, but she was there. She knew that as long as she had her daughter there, things would be okay.


End file.
